Verti-zontal differentiation in export markets

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Di Comite, Francesco; Thisse, Jacques-Francois; Vandenbussche, Hylke
• 署名单位: Universite Catholique Louvain; Universite Catholique Louvain; HSE University (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK; European Central Bank; National Bank of Belgium; KU Leuven
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1996
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2014.01.010
• 发表日期: 2014
• 页码: 50-66
• 关键词: Heterogeneous firms; Heterogeneous consumers; Horizontal differentiation; Vertical differentiation; Asymmetric preferences; monopolistic competition

摘要

Many trade models of monopolistic competition identify cost efficiency as the main determinant affirm performance in export markets. To date, the analysis of demand factors has received much less attention. We propose a new model where consumer preferences are asymmetric across varieties and heterogeneous across countries. The model generates new predictions and allows for an identification of horizontal differentiation (taste) clearly distinguished from vertical differentiation (quality). Data patterns observed in Belgian firm-product level exports by destination are congruent with the predictions and seem to warrant a richer modelling of consumer demand. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).